The Johannes Kepler University Linz (German: Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, short: JKU) is a public institution of higher education in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It offers bachelor's, master's, diploma and doctoral degrees in business, engineering, law, science, and social sciences.

Today, 19,300[1] students study at the park campus in the northeast of Linz, with one out of nine students being from abroad. The university was the first in Austria to introduce an electronic student ID in 1998 and the whole campus has wireless LAN coverage.

The university is the home of the Johann Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics (RICAM) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

In 2012, the Times Higher Education ranked the JKU at #41 in its list of the top 100 universities under 50 years old. According to the ranking, the JKU is the fifth best young university in German-speaking Europe. The university attained high scores for quotations, third-party funding, and internationalization efforts.[2]

The JKU was established as the "College of Social Sciences, Economics and Business" (Hochschule für Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften) in 1966. The Faculty of Sciences and Engineering was established three years later and in 1975, the college was awarded university status and the Faculty of Law was integrated on campus. The university was named in honor of astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) who wrote his magnum opus harmonices mundi ("The Harmony of the world") in Linz during the early 17th century and taught mathematics at a school for the landed gentry (Adelichen Landt-Schuelen) near Linz.[3] At present, the campus added the "JKU Science Park", an additional building for science and engineering institutes.

The campus is accessible by the Linz tram lines 1 and 2 and the express bus line 77. On weekdays, trams travel every 7–8 minutes and a trip to the city center (Hauptplatz) takes approximately 16 minutes.

The JKU is also located close to Austria's autobahn network at theDornach exit on the A7 Mühlkreisautobahn (ca. 1 km or 0.6 miles). In anticipation of extending the campus, an additional autobahn exit, Auhof, is currently in the construction stages and is expected to better facilitate traffic, allowing a more direct route to the university.

A bicycle path in the north-east corner of the town located along the north side of the Danube river provides direct access to the university and helps to reduce traffic in the area.

Many larger dormitories are within walking distance of the university, such as the Julius Raab Heim, the WIST Haus, the Kepler Heim, the ESH and the KHG Heim. Several other dormitories are located in different parts of Linz, providing housing for more than 3,100 students in all of Linz.[4]

Some of the dormitories become hotels during the summer holidays, most notably the Julius Raab Heim under the name Hotel Sommerhaus.

The university Rector and Academic Senate are responsible for the university's management. There are four vice rectors who are each assigned to specific task areas and who assist the Rector. The university board is an independent body that advises and counsels the Rector and Academic Senate on management issues. Deans and faculty committees are responsible for management on a faculty level. Rector and deans are elected for a 4-year period whereas faculty committees are elected for a 2-year period.[5]

In 2007 Richard Hagelauer was elected Rector. At present, Ferdinand Kerschner is head of the Academic Senate and Ludwig Scharinger is head of the University Council .[6][7][8]

The Faculty of Law was officially established in 1975. Before that time period, law degrees were offered by the SoWi faculty, which was then theFaculty of Social Sciences, Economics, Business and Law. In addition to Diploma and doctorate degrees in law, the RE faculty offers a Bachelor's degree in Business Law in cooperation with the SoWi faculty.[11] Law degrees are also offered via multimedia distance learning.[12]

The abbreviation RE is derived from the first two letters of the faculty's name German name, Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät. At present, the RE faculty consists of 20 institutes.

The masters degree program in Web Sciences is divided into branches of study: Social Web, Web Art & Design, Web Business & Economy, Web Engineering as well as Web and the Law. It offers those with academic background in various fields a research-led expansion and in-depth look at fields relevant to the web such as technology, business, law, society, art and culture.[13]

The JKU maintains several distance learning centers in Austria that offer degrees and courses at the German FernUniversität Hagen, the British Open University and JKU's own distance law degree program.